Originally posted by dj43:
The best thing I saw last night was how well Rachal played again. Other than a couple of communication breakdowns during this PS, the guy has been very good. He is lighter and quicker on his feet. Last night he dominated his zone all night long, even when he was going against 1st teamers. He is finally looking more like a 2nd round pick.

Rachal was great last night. He played with passion, too. He's always seemed kind of aloof, but he was very engaged last night. Very encouraging.

I loved it when he pancaked his man, then got up and signaled the first down. That is the kind of "nasty" we heard about from his USC days.

Originally posted by dj43:
The best thing I saw last night was how well Rachal played again. Other than a couple of communication breakdowns during this PS, the guy has been very good. He is lighter and quicker on his feet. Last night he dominated his zone all night long, even when he was going against 1st teamers. He is finally looking more like a 2nd round pick.

His run-blocking has always been his strength, I remember watching (and reading later) how he plowed through guys (even high profile DL guys like Dockett) to make room for Gore to run through. It's his pass-protection that was always questionable. If he improves on that and doesn't give up many sacks and QB hurries, he'll deserve to be a starter for the whole season. If not, I can see coaches putting guys like Snyder or Boone in, especially if we're behind and in obvious passing situations.

I believe the extra weight he was carrying last year was a significant disadvantage to him in pass protection, as well as pulling and moving around to pick up blitzes. He is reported to have dropped 35 pounds. That is a LOT of weight. He just looks to be in much better shape this year than last.

As an aside, the better pass protecting lines around the league are lighter, quicker guys, not the big bulldozers that Nolan/Sing preferred. Still, Rachal was bulldozing people last night.

Well, first off, I was glad to see last night's performance. Which means we've had two performances where the line has looked GREAT. And two performances were they've looked positively TERRIBLE.

Expect this theme to continue throughout at least the first half of the season. There are going to be games where nobody gets blocked and it's going to be bad. And we will have games where the line just plays some of the greatest body-smashing football we've ever witnessed.

That is to be expected from a young line: Inconsistency. BUT -- we are improving. And the nice thing is, we can all SEE this improvement. Not one or two plays -- but an ENTIRE game.

That means something to me. It really does. It means that players are buying into Harbaugh's scheme. It means he is lifting this team up by its bootstraps like no coach has done since Seifert roamed the sidelines.

I saw steady improvement like this in BW's first year. The growing pains aren't over. You're going to continue to see terrible play. But we are getting better in every phase of the game. That much cannot be denied.

Originally posted by billbird2111:
Well, first off, I was glad to see last night's performance. Which means we've had two performances where the line has looked GREAT. And two performances were they've looked positively TERRIBLE.

Expect this theme to continue throughout at least the first half of the season. There are going to be games where nobody gets blocked and it's going to be bad. And we will have games where the line just plays some of the greatest body-smashing football we've ever witnessed.

That is to be expected from a young line: Inconsistency. BUT -- we are improving. And the nice thing is, we can all SEE this improvement. Not one or two plays -- but an ENTIRE game.

That means something to me. It really does. It means that players are buying into Harbaugh's scheme. It means he is lifting this team up by its bootstraps like no coach has done since Seifert roamed the sidelines.

I saw steady improvement like this in BW's first year. The growing pains aren't over. You're going to continue to see terrible play. But we are getting better in every phase of the game. That much cannot be denied.

I see it differently. I see our coaches capable of making the proper adjustments to allow the offense to be successful if parts of the line are having a little trouble. Remember Singletary's philosophy with Anothony Davis, our youngest rookie who's starting at RT? He was not going to give him any help. For some reason, now that we have coaches who are more aware than a 7th grader, I have a feeling that those matchups in the opponents favor will get coached out.

Originally posted by billbird2111:
Well, first off, I was glad to see last night's performance. Which means we've had two performances where the line has looked GREAT. And two performances were they've looked positively TERRIBLE.

Expect this theme to continue throughout at least the first half of the season. There are going to be games where nobody gets blocked and it's going to be bad. And we will have games where the line just plays some of the greatest body-smashing football we've ever witnessed.

That is to be expected from a young line: Inconsistency. BUT -- we are improving. And the nice thing is, we can all SEE this improvement. Not one or two plays -- but an ENTIRE game.

That means something to me. It really does. It means that players are buying into Harbaugh's scheme. It means he is lifting this team up by its bootstraps like no coach has done since Seifert roamed the sidelines.

I saw steady improvement like this in BW's first year. The growing pains aren't over. You're going to continue to see terrible play. But we are getting better in every phase of the game. That much cannot be denied.

I see it differently. I see our coaches capable of making the proper adjustments to allow the offense to be successful if parts of the line are having a little trouble. Remember Singletary's philosophy with Anothony Davis, our youngest rookie who's starting at RT? He was not going to give him any help. For some reason, now that we have coaches who are more aware than a 7th grader, I have a feeling that those matchups in the opponents favor will get coached out.

You mean like helping Anthony Davis with a chip block by the running back in pass protection? Last year they left Davis alone to fend for himself most of the time in pass protection

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